Reignite
by Porcelaineskin
Summary: Lucid dreaming can unlock forgotten memories from the past lifes. Enter the journey with Amy, trying to figure out the meaning of those dreams and with Shadow, trying to fill the void inside his heart. Hope you guys enjoy, please review! Rated M for Gore and explicit Violence. Shadow and Amy bellongs to Sega.
1. Metempsychosis

Chapter 1 Metempsychosis "transmigration of the soul"

A blurry but strong light keeps the eyes half-close. Amy just "awakes" in a midle of sort of Stonehenge site, on top of a cerimonial stone covered with flowers and hand made of wood gifts. When she rises, Amy noticed that her body is only covered with a pure linen robe and her arms and legs exposed, were soft and hairless as female human arms are. However she was not alone. A strange group of people were surrounding her.

She couldn't see their faces, because of the large white hoods that cast a shadow on their frowns. Amy somehow felt she was in great danger. As she started to look around for a escape, they start to step by step, to close distance, before they draw their daggers under the robes.

The silence was overwhelming, but furious gallops started to grow louder and louder in the silence and suddently, a young male war cry draws the attention of the silent but hostile group.

But before they could do something, the young male, ridding a black stallion runs over some of

them. Amy looked up as she instinctively grabs his reaching hand and is carried away by her human savior.

While he was focused to take her away from them, she was staring at his handsome but suffered facial expressions. The female felt confidence in him, it was like she knew him a lot of time before. He wrapped her in his arms coated with dark leather and whispers something in a somesort of ancient language, but somehow makes her feel safe and even loved.

However, the strange group, who would murder her if the vigorous ride didin't apear to the rescue, didin't give up. They where summoning warriors made of stone and grass, with hard but flattened roots as spears.

The young male looked briefly over his shoulder, only to see a some sort of organic spear thrust though his faithfull stallion. They fell with the ribs on the sward. Amy gave a small scream but she was abble to get up easly. However, her savior, had one leg under the heavy dead stallion. Once her white pure linen robe was now a bloody mess with dirt. She looked and tried to help the young male kneeling beside him and trying to pulling him out, but he pushed her away, screaming some ancient language she didin't recognised.

The stone cold warriors, where aproaching as she rises with one stone on her hand. Amy could have many flaws, but she wasn't a coward. She trows one stone and manages to hit right in the head of one of the stone warriors, making his head tilt back. The young male was growling and yelled at her, almost saying for her to run away.

Yet, there were more like five to hit, and before Amy could duck to grab another stone, she felt a piercing pain through the abdomen. A organic, made of roots, hardened spear, was piercing her belly. She felt the blood running out like a flow of warm escaping of her body, paralising like venon. The young male screamed his lungs out with tears bursting wildly as he sees her falling in the ground impaled by a root.

Amy was breathing heavily, feeling herself falling asleep with a numbing pain.

As she falls asleep, wakes up in a room with panoramic view over planet earth. She recognizes the place as Space Colony ARK. She felt confused, as she just woke up from a bad dream and now she were at ARK. Suddently, Shadow with an worried expression enters the room and grabs her arm. Once again she noticed that her arms were human and a strange feeling was oppressing her mind. Amy felt like a spectatress, like she was watching a movie she already saw...

Again she was running, now away from heavy armed men in a colony floating in the space, with Shadow as her savior. She was struggling inside, she wanted to awake so bad. It was like she was in a dream inside another dream. Amy felt one shot passing dangerously close to her face, feeling the cut of the air in the cheek. Shadow growls in frustration and worry as he sees her face bleeding. But he knew they couldn't stop running until they reached the scape pods. As they reach the pods, their other exits were cut of by the soldiers.

Shadow was shocked, only one scape pod was left, but before he could place her in the remaining one, the ebony hedgehog was surrounded by a thick cylindrical glass. His shouts were muffled as he saw blood splatters the glass in one second and in the other the darkness of space.

Amy again feels pain in the abdomen and feels drowning in her own blood as she slide slowly though the control panel. And again she falls asleep.

Then, she wakes up in a cozy bed sweaty and gasping for air, feeling desoriented and numb, as she touches her face and belly looking for the absent bleeding. Then, looks to her own arms, finally relieved to see her furry peach like skin and slender legs.


	2. Tainted Roses

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Amy and Shadow bellongs to SEGA. Rated M to blood.  
This chapter is a mite compared to the first one, but I wanted to set the mood for the characters and the feelings. Next chapter will be an heavy but breath taking reading. Stay tunned.

Thanks for the review: MJCM1

Chapter two – Tainted Roses

The moon fused with Space Colony ARK still reigned the skies at the time Amy Rose awoke.

A nightmare made her desperate to catch some fresh air of the night, trying to quiet her mind about what she saw in dreams, during the past days, Amy opens the windows.

Yet, she was not the only one that couldn't sleep. An ebony and taciturn hedgehog was tightening his fists anytime bad memories invaded his thoughts, to the point until his hands starts to bleed and the pain of his nails though his own flesh makes him momentarily forget about his past...

While the warm blood flows though his hands and it falls almost as rain drops, it makes the balcony's white pure roses bellow, tainted. With a numbing, but somehow enjoyable pain, Shadow stands still on roof top of a tall building, breathing the night breeze, when captures an eerie scent of the tainted roses that revived another memory.

"Faker's wannabe girlfriend..." he whispers to the wind with a chuckle.

His mind was messed up after so many events of the past years to the point he couldn't trust his own memories to the point he asked himself "Why did I kept the same promisse I did for Maria to her?... It doesn't make any sense. It must be something fabricated by my mind."

After traumatic events, after knowing he is not from this world and had to kill the closest thing he had to a father, his mind seemed like it was still playing tricks on him. He avoids contact with others until he's somehow "fixed". Shadow felt like he was in the midle of an ocean, lost, apprehensive about what course in life to take. Maria was his course, route, direction and now Maria was long dead. And like a curse, he had to continue living, without knowing where he could fit.

The wind starts to blow harder, to the point it scatters the tainted rose petals through the air of the night and Shadow returns to his shelter on a old building roof top. Amy nevertheless was with her elbows on the window of the room, trying to rationalize the dreams she had. When her mind thought about Shadow touching her hand, even that she saw it wasn't actually her's, the pink female somehow was shocked about how vivid the memories and the feelings were.

"His hand was so... warm and secure. But he never touched me... How can I know such things?!" she said staring at her own left hand when suddently the wind rises and she saw a blurry white and red thingy passing near her face and roost in her hair.

Half annoyed half curious, she takes it out and to her horror she sees fresh blood stains on a white rose petal. Instantly she lets it go, led by the wind and shuts the windows tight, afraid to see more tainted petals invading her bedroom.


	3. Missing Words

Capitulo III : Missing Words

The night starts to fade to white as the sun starts to rise. The morning birds begins to sing arias but soon they are overshadowed by the trafic, as the city itself starts to awake. Like a night creature, Shadow retreats to his hideout, in a abandoned and unfinished building where the misfits and hobos decorate with all sorts of grafitis and other kinds of street art their view of the world.

The naked wall bricks were like a imense canvas, where pictures of people would mix with unintelligible words. Shadow's room was at very top of a long unfinished concrete staircase with a breathing take view on the city.

Near one of the windows, there was only one somesort of grafitti drawing, small compared to the other's on the building. It ressembled a blonde childlike saint with a blue ribbon in the luscious hair, that spread across the wall and frame the window like a painting. Shadow painted it the best he could for two reasons: reminder of his "happy" times with a true friendship and to feel less lonely. Sleepless, he sits near to the painting while watching the sun rises.

Meanwhile, at Amy's apartment, the first sun rays starts to spread through the blinds gaps, making a pattern of dashes on her face making her eyelids twitch. With some struggle, she starts to wake up grunting, with a major bed hair covering part of her face. Suddently, Amy's phone starts to rings loud, shaking like crazy, scaring the crap out of her, while she rolls in the bed sheets and falls in the ground.

"For Chaos sake… Who is it?" she grunts grabbing the cellphone while shaking her head trying to see the screen with her face covered with strands of hair. When she answers the phone, a soft female owl's voice speaks to her:

"Hello there dear Amelia, did you forgot our appointment?"

"Oh I'm so sorry Lady Sophia… I'm a little bit late, but I'll be there in twenty minutes!"

"Ok dear, see you soon. Be sure to arrive as soon as possible."

As the lady Owl hung up the phone, Amy gets up in a jump and in a rush, she trows the pijama around as she grabs a purple dress from the chair and a pair of matching boots from the floor.

While she enters the bathroom, completly dressed, grabs a brush and arranjes her hair with an eerie feeling. When she gently grabs and strokes a piece of hair while looking at the mirror, was like she could see between her fingers, golden strands of hair. As if for some moments she could almost turn into a blond person.

Annoyed, the pink female lands the brush against the hard stone of the counter and turns around, avoiding any eye contact with the mirror.

"I have to get to the bottom of this… Its like I'm not me anymore, but somebody else I forgot instead… Why now? Am I going insane?"

Amy asked herself as she walks towards the exit door of her apartment and grabs a coat with a set of keys.

Focused, she walked as fast as she could and catch the bus just before leaving. After greeting the bus driver and payed the ticket, she sits next to the left window's, just behind the bus driver.

As she was lost in a train of thought, looking to the cosmopolitan ambient outside, Amy suddently awakes as she sees the familiar blue blur passing near by the bus. Suddently a some sort of deja vú is triggered and it was like the blue blur became a black one, like the color had fade away.

Normaly, she would try to wave to the blue blur... But not that time. The girl shivered all over and suddently rises from her seat and aproaches the exit door, her heart pounding like crazy due to the mini anxiety attack. Everyone starts to stare at her, wondering if something was wrong. As Amy noticed she could get out the next stop, she pushed people out of the bus exit and rushed towards an old but cute victorian house in the middle of two huge towers.

For her relief, the Lady Sophie's house front door was wide open and as she entered, Amy's anxiety starts to fade. Still, the people next the bus stop talking about her strange behaviour.

"Welcome my dear!" lady Sophie says, with her arms wide open. She was an old white owl's, with a somehow gently granny looks. Her big yellow eyes had a spark on it, almost like she knew much more about people than meets the eye. Amy hugged her and apologized for being late still shivering from the deja vú.

"Its okay dear… I think Ive figured out what's going on with you." Sophie says as she softly strokes Amy's head and drives her by the hand to the cozy old couch of the living room. On the top of the table were dozens of documents and tapes with the sessions they made together. Right in the middle there was an some sort of folder with Amy's name on it.

Amy was nervous but her curiosity was stronger.

"Please… tell me." she says with an hitch on the throat.

Lady Sophie takes a deep breath as she places the folder on the pink hedgehog lap and sits.

"Out last session was pretty much deep… We dug enough of your past life and I didin't want to tell you anything before I could be sure what I heard from your mouth was true." She lets go a sigh, like she was trying to trying to gain courage to speak:

"You gaved me a name, a date and a place for every single past life regression you did. You don't remember anything, but your unconscious mind is trying to tell somehow, what you deep inside already know. Few weeks ago, you celebrated 16 years. Shortly after, you started to have several dreams and visions… It was your soul remembering of some traumatic events in your last pass lives, for example, last moments of life..." she paused for a few moments as she sees Amy becoming emotional, moments later she continue:

"I don't wanna tell you who you were, because I believe part of your theraphy and journey to discover. Is not everyday that the memory of someone's the soul starts to trigger so wildly, and in your case, it has a purpose or something for you to learn and it has to be in this life time. " -lady Sophia grabs Amy's hands and looks into her green watery eyes-" What I can tell to guide you through your journey is: you always had a person, a male, that cared more about you than the rest. In your descrpitions during the hypnosis, when you were about to die in your two last past lifes, the same male soul suffered with your death. It was like he or they had something to tell you, but they never had the chance... "


	4. Denial

_There has been a while since Ive uploaded a chapter to this story. The reason was because I needed to do some research about the theme of Reincarnation and Karma to proper develop the narrative. _

_Thanks a lot for the review __ThePurplePyroHedgie.  
__Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters on this fiction, exept for Lady Sophie._

Have a good reading and leave a review.

Chapter IV: Denial

A black blur was moving deeply into the dense forest, tracking down some scout robots from Eggman while listening to intructions by Commander itself:

"Shadow, do not intervene until I say so. You will be our eyes and ears on this mission. Eggman has been acting very low profile latelly and Rouge had spoted him with some relics from the ruins… We guess he is up to something."

"I'm almost on their tail. Gonna turn off the comunications for a while to avoid Eggman tracking us... I shall report once I'm done here." the ebony male replied with a deep, low voice, before clicking the device on his left ear.

With feline agility, Shadow swiftly reaches a tall branch on a pine tree. High enough for him to check out what the robots were doing, he first admired the panoramic view of an entire forest.

He was standing on a tall tree branch with a dense dark green foliage that makes the perfect camouflage with his charcoal fur.

The robots were the insect kind, shaped like lady bugs with more agressive features. They were perfect for digging and carring heavy stuff. Equipped with some sort of sonars, they mapped the area underground, discovering some ancient ruins. They found few small stone statues, representing some sort of ancient deity's, were brough to the morning day light.

One of statues was holding a small reflective object, almost like a piece of a big broken mirror.

Strangly, the position of the object was reflecting the light directly to Shadow's eyes, making him loosing eyesight briefly, seing in the middle of the blinding light, a feminine silhuette aproaching that hugs him from behind.

Shadow freaked out as the vision becomes too real, the moment he feels the female whispering on his ears "Noos…" , the hedgehog loose the balance on the branch, wich trows him on a 30 mts fall.

The branches breaked one after another, the packs of needle leafs punched his face and pierced his fur as the ground filled with a dense network of roots was closer and closer.

Just before he crashes the ground, his left arm reached a branch.

Grabbing it like a hook, 6 mts away from the hard soil, his shoulder articulation snap out of the place with a loud and painfull sound. Filled with pain, he lets himself go, landing swiflty on his two heels with a shoulder out of place and his left arm hanging.

He felt the blood pumping through the articulation like he had the heart on the shoulder.

As the robots heard the messing noise, brought by a shaking tree in the middle of the quiet florest, few douzen meters away, as fast they arrived, they left with the relics.

"Shit! Fuck the stealth way…" Shadow said as he fiercly snaped the shoulder to the right place, with a loud crak sound, before zapping towards the robbots that were flying away.

The dark hedgehog chased then again, with his blood pumped with adrenaline from the fall and endormofines from the shoulder pain.

While running, he charged his right hand with chaotic green energy, looking to the sky sorrounded with the dark green pikes of the pine trees, checking out the small robots flying above. While he was chasing the small group of robots, the trees were less and less across the fields, and just before he almost falls over a cliff to the sea, Shadow trows a spear made of chaotic energy with a scream filled with frustration.

Just before the chaos spear hit them, a black sphere of energy absorved the chaos spear before it desapears again into thin air. Shadow was left speechless, very few things were abble to survive his attack and it just were absorved by some sort of a strange energy field leaving the robots untoutched.

Commander was anxious to ear some repport from Shadow while Rouge was sitting in front of him looking to her nails. When he hears the communicator calling, he jumps from his desk chair to reply and jump scare the ivory female.

"So Shadow, what did you saw?!"

Shadow's was quiet, trying to calm down his racing mind, panting not from the running, but from the numbing pain of his recovering shoulder and the vision of the female. Rouge got herself up and sits on top of the desk simply asking:

"Did they find more relics?..."

"Yes… They were some stone statues… One of them had a shard... from the look of it… it was a piece of a mirror… and…" he paused, thinking if he should tell about his vision, but maybe it was just an hallucination "they flew away with it."

"Why didin't you stopped then?! Eggman is obviously collecting those things for something bad Shadow!" Commander almost yells to the communicator, hurting his ear a little bit, that made the ebony male pissed off.

"You didin't gave me the orders to do so." and he suddently ends the call, switching off the device.

Rouge gave a small chuckle to Shadow's reaction to Commander. Even when working for him, he never bends over to a mortal.

…..

Meanwhile, Amy was taking her breakfast on a cute bakery in the center of the town. As she drinks her hot tea, the pink female reads the reports made by Lady Sophie with some clues about how to find and end the dreams she have with the deaths of Maria and other females she has no idea who they are.

The pink female didin't knew what to believe. Few weeks ago, she even went to a psychiatrist, who told her she might have multiple personality disorder and gave her some strong meds, that made her sick and she almost fell into depression.

Until one rainy day, in a small market event, she reached out lady Sophie by grabbing the same apple that she did. She appolosiged, telling she was taking some medicine to prevent restless dreams at night, making her sleeply through the day.

Lady Sophie took a good look into her green eyes, seing were wet from crying and hugged her, like a grandmother protecting her grandchildren.

It has been a while since Amy felt such care from someone exept from Cream. But even Cream, since she started to date Tails, she has been too ocupied with studies and boyfriend to have the time to listen to her complaing about the weird dreams…

Lady Sophie had to go and said to Amy to try to understand what was happening to her.

But before she left, the old owl swiflty placed a small and simple vintage business card on the bag of Amy's apple's.

Before Lady Sophie's sessions, Amy felt kinda lost. She should be just another teenage girl and live to the fullest like she always lived.

Instead, her dreams are filled of lost unkown lovers and brutal deaths. The pink female was starting to have a phobia to sleep, so she made everything within her reach to avoid the slumber only to find out it made the nightmares worse.

After Lady Sophie's sessions, Amy feels she is starting to understand what is happening to her. It is like the subconscious mind unlocked something she is meant to know before the time somehow runs out. And with it, she started to experience lucid dreams. When she had almost full control, Amy realized was a some sort of a movie in first person camera.

As she gave her last sip on the tea, Amy closed the reports and looked outside. The weather was sunny but a little bit chilly, people were busy trying to get as soon as possible to their jobs, children were playing in the little garden on the other side of the street, oblivious to the complexity of reality. Amy sighs, she used to be like then… Until the day, Metal Sonic killed her parents in front of her and proceed to kidnaped her. Then, the blue hero comes to rescue and gave her hope. Hope to be happy and to be loved again… But Sonic is like the wind, you can feel it, but you cannot grab it.

Despite it all, the pink female tried her best to be bright and cheerfull even when things were bad, and maybe that was the reason she never grief her parents, because deep inside she knew, past cannot be changed and all you can do is smile and live on.

She had the luck to have good friends and lived adventures that a teenage girl of her age could only dream about.

Even that Amy doesn't have any special power, despite her hammer and some extra strength, it never stopped her to keep fighting.

She kept pushing her limits after all this years with the hope that Sonic someday would admire her…

However, things has been quiet since Eggman was defeated last time and life was boring again. Secretly she kinda wished Eggman did some minor vilainy stuff only for the trill of an adventure.

Sonic returned few hours ago, from a jorney around the world to know better some cultures. He even learned about some religions and rituals, and was blessed by some folks with souvenirs and body painting. Of course, the blue hero had one or another love affair, leaving some hearts broken when he left the morning after.

When he arrived to Tails workshop, with body paintings and colars, looking almost like a hippie, Tails tought it was some sort of Sonic's cousin or something until the blue hedgehog friendly smacked his back, handling some of the gifts he had.

"Wow Sonic, I barelly recognise you. I guess it has been quite a journey!" Tails said, cleaning his hands covered with oil with a old rag, inviting Sonic to drink something inside the workshop.

"You bet buddy! I needed some time alone and enjoy the "vacations" that Eggman gave us. You have no idea, but Ive been with some gorgeous chicks from..."

"Do not forget what you were saying, I wanted to tell you sooner but you were away and unreacheable by mobile comunications..." Tails grabed two sodas from the fridge and gave one to Sonic, opening it, while avoids eye contact.

"Did something bad happened while I was away?! Someone got hurt or..." the blue hero's eyes were wide open while he gently grabs Tails arms, worried.

"No silly… Finally me and Cream are official. Never been happier." Tails spoke with a shy soft voice. Sonic gave him a bro hug, almost dripping the sodas to the floor before releasing him with a smile of content on his face.

"My little brother is all grow up now! Geez someday you will have kids and I still gonna be a lonely uncle!" he said with a laugh.

Tails laughed back and sits on a small wood stool next to the door.

"That is, if Amy doesn't get you drunk first and seduce you… I mean, the girl is all over you since you two know each other..."

Sonic does a disgust face shaking his head:

"Gawd Tails, she's like a sister to me! Not in a million years!"

"You should be more clear to her then! Sometimes you seem to like her attention, sometimes you run away from her… Introduce her to someone you trust, Ive heard your brother Manic has a crush on her." Tails said sternly between sips looking to the blue hero's eyes.

"No offence but… Manic likes everything that has a hole… Besides, its not my duty to find someone better to her. She should choose whatever she wants instead of forcing her into situations that can damage her."

The tone of the blue hero's was more sarcastic than usual. Yeah he could introduce her to Manic, who would gladly take Amy as his girlfriend, but somehow the idea annoyed him.

"I'm gonna record that for some day in the future Sonic..."

Tails chuckled. The fox was younger but wasn't dumber. Sonic kinda liked to have Amy on his tail. It stroked his ego, as Amy matures and becomes more atrative to other males but is only interested in him. Its kinda sad and everytime Tails tries to figure out a way for Sonic to be honest about his feelings, the kitsune fails when the azure hero tells him details of his love conquests…

"Well buddy, see ya! Gonna visit KnuckleHead!" and as fast he arrived he left, avoiding more lecture from Tails about feelings and stuff.


	5. Existance

_Disclaimer: All the characters in this chapter bellongs to SEGA (c)  
Have a good reading and leave a review :) I enjoy constructive criticism_

Chapter V: Existance

Hours later, the ebony hedgehog arrived to G.U.N.s headquarters to get his payment from the mission. Commander gave him a closed envelope with the cash, and before Shadow left, the human said:

"I'm only paying you half because of your attitude. Maybe you will learn the lesson and become a team player."

"You need me, but I don't need you, human." Shadow replied looking over the shoulder to him and left.

Commander clenched his fists and resisted to give him a lecture about obedience and respect to his superiors, but he knew it only would made it worse. Outside, leaning with her back and wings against a wall, Rouge waited for him.

"So… how much did he payed you sugar?"

" . .Sugar."

Shadow replied with a low growl. Rouge even had the nerve to grab him by the arm, walking by his side.

"Oh don't be like that Shadowy… We know each other for many years. I'm just asking because Commander was pissed off with your rebelion from this morning."

"I don't even know why I'm doing this..." he said in a whisper, looking to the floor while walking.

"Its better than wander around without a purpose. Plus you can help me with some side missions..." Rouge squeeze his arm, pulling it clooser to her cleveage.

"Like steal the jewels you like so much? For what? They are just stones who shine!" Shadow pushes the arm away from her and starts to walk faster.

"Money is just printed paper and you work for it every single mission! You have no right to judge me Shadow, since Ive been your only friend after all this years!"

The ivory bat tried to keep the pace, annoyed by his attitude.

"Yet, you fail to understand me..." and he runs away from there leaving her behind. Rouge crossed her arms annoyed with his tantrum, but decided to leave him be and talk to him later, since he might need some time alone after the confrontation with Commander.

The ebony hedgehog ran away with a train of thought, only stopping to sit at the top of a hill, watching other beings with their short lives, smilling and crying… And living.

To his perspective he doesn't live, he just exist. The white bat life wasn't much better either.

Rouge worshiped things, that despite the financial value, didin't made her more happy.

Only made her more greedy and lonely. Maybe its somehow a way for her to compensate the lack of affection on her life.

Shadow and her were close friends, even though she flirts with him a lot, but they never crossed that limit. Plus Rouge has a connection with the red echidna, more stronger than she likes to admit, yet she prefers to stay independent, because deep inside she knew, Knuckles would never abandon his duty to protect the Master Esmerald.

Besides her, Shadow knew he didin't have any real friends on the world. Yeah Sonic was now his allie and his friends, but no real connection was established. Yet he has envy of the blue blur: people admired him instead of fearing him, he has a loyal group of friends who always support him no mather what, plus, a girl that really loves him.

If the girl who trully loved and cared for Shadow was alive, she would be 66 years old few weeks ago…

Even if he had everything that Sonic has, he's "cursed" to live forever.

"For what is worth to love?..." he asked himself since he is immortal and was doomed to see the loved ones pass away.

After all this years, he redeem himself from the past. Condecorated by the President itself, and in duty to G.U.N. from some years, he gained the fear and respect by almost everyone. Shadow wandered, looking for a purpose all this years, only to find out there isn't one, after he saved the planet by keeping his true promise to Maria.

He felt like a old man in the body of an young adult. He didin't had the pacience to listen to most trivial conversations even from Rouge, his old friend. Even when the sun shined for everyone, and the sky was a clear blue, it was like the ebony male had a black and grey filter, life felt dull because it has no defined meaning or purpose for him anymore.

But that doesn't meant he would stop looking for a purpose that fits him.

He got up on his feet and ran to the city. Shadow though for moments, maybe if he tried to be normal like most creatures, he would be fine. He wanted to know how is like to be just ordinary instead of extraordinary.

So he tries to blend in, on a rush city hour, with tousands of people walking the streets.

Some of then were too busy thinking about their afairs to notice the ultimate life form walking next to then, others were talking to the cellphone and when they noticed him, some of then walked in the opposite direction, still talking, others paused their calls trying to take some pictures like he was some sort of celebrity.

That seriously annoyed the ebony hedgehog, he just wanna to blend in and be left alone.

When he tried to dodge the photos, somewhere else another flash of light from another cellphone hits him, making a litle fuz in the crowd.

The worse has yet to come, when some intrepid people starts to ask for some selfies with him and some autographs. Shadow just thought, regreting envious thoughts towards Sonic:

"I cannot fucking understand how the faker can handle all this attention..."

Feeling like a corned rat, he pushes some people away, trying to run from his "fans", only to see they where spawning like mushrooms.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" a small chaos blast makes the nearby people around him to fall to the ground with the impact, giving him the space to jump towards a city lamp and keep jumping until he reaches the top of a bulding and desapears from everyones sight. Because of his mini atack, some people screamed and called the autorities, that dismissed the confusion because people weren't hurt.

Few moments later, the press were there, interviewing the some of the people who were affected by the mini chaos blast from Shadow...

Amy at that time was at home baking a cake for the welcome back party for Sonic, after Tails called her on the phone, saying the blue hero has definetly returned.

While she was working on the egg whites, Amy was listening to the small TV on the top of the frigde when something grabbed her attention.

"Wow, never tought he was so powerfull! With just a soft chaos blast he trew douzens of people to the ground!"

A hiperactive raccon teen said to the otter journalist before he was pushed away by his mother that grabs the mic:

"I never liked him, he's a terrorist! Did people just forget that he is the son of an alien that tried to destroy our planet?!"

The journalist grabs her mic back and finished the report, leaving the camera man to film the divided opinion of the people about Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Poor thing, I bet he couldn't handle all the crowd harassment like Sonic..." Amy giggled and suddently an idea reaches her mind.

"What about to invite him over to the party tonight? It has been a while since we were all together!"

the pink female thought, placing the bowl with the egg whites in the counter and reaching her cellphone, only to see that she didin't had this contact, only Rouge's.

"This will have to do, Rouge can convince him to go. Plus two more people is better than just one!" and she dials her number.

"Hi Rouge, how are ya?"

"Ive been better, but I'm okay honey and you?" Rouge replies with a sigh.

"I'm fine. Look, Sonic is going to do a welcome party tonight at Tails place, you and Shadow are invited!"

"Honey I don't mean to offend you, but Shadow isn't the kind of guy who likes parties… Plus he's stressed out about the work and..."

"Oh come on! It will be a small party in the midle of the quiet nature, just between us, plus Knuckles will be there..."

Rouge took a deep breath and said something she insta regreted:

"Okay… We will be there at 9 P.M. honey."

Amy squealed loud at the phone, making Rouge push it away from her delicate ears:

"Thank you! It will be awesome! See you later! Byeeee!"

"Bye..." Rouge hung out the phone, looking at herself on the mirror wondering if Knuckles will at least speak to her at the party.


	6. Reflections

Chapter VI: Reflections

The Sun was fading into the horizon as it descends, the sky took shades of orange and dark purple, allowing his counterpart, the Moon to rise.

As the Moon ascends into the endless black sky flecked with stars, Eggman was carefully performing some kind of ritual, on a recently construted temple site without roof, roman style, placing a last piece of a big broken mirror on the ground.

When the Moon starts to bleed the light upon it, the pieces of the mirror starts to liquify, fusing together resembling a pond. Eggman was nervous about it, a chilly end of summer wind spread across the place, shaking the fragille candlelights placing randomly across the temple.

Urgent, pleading wispers were carried by the wind, like the old vows and wishes were free to be finally fulfilled. The human looks around, with a small stone statue resembling a female, promissing to break it if anything goes wrong, however, a metallic silhuette starts to rise on the liquid mirror.

As the silhouette rises up on the pond, the moon shine enhances her curvalicious figure, however she didin't had any facial features or hair, and the skin was the purest of the blacks.

Her skin was so dark, that when the liquid mirror slid completly on her form, it was like looking at a void on the tridimensional space.

Eggman didin't said a word, but he could feel the "thing" observing him. He knew how to control it, showing the statue on his hands as a way to show his dominance. Also, Metal Sonic was near by if any extra fire power was needed.

The entity finally rises above the liquified mirror, and in a white shine, that if wasn't for the dark Eggman's shades, the glow would blind him, the reflective surface solidified.

He takes a deep breath and then, his voice becomes stern and deep:

"I summoned you for vengeance. Everytime I try to construct something upon this land its destroyed by that blue punk and his gang. Once we are done with them, I allow you to return to your realm."

The entity sits on her knees up on the now lustreless mirror, speaking and writing.

Her voice was young, yet old, like she had two voices speaking at the same time.

"...reithgim si kcalb eht tub ,ythgim si eulb ehT ...raef yllaer dluohs uoy ohw eno eht si rulb eulb eht fo wodahs eht ,yawynA ...tnetxe emos ta ylno tub ,em nopu rewop evah uoy wonk od I .smret ym no tub ,uoy pleh lliw I"

Eggman made a small facepalm, as he thought to himself he could get a translation device before the summon, but the entity though a step back, leaving the message writed on the mirror as she retreats and disappears in the darkness of the night.

The evil genius calls Metal Sonic to scan the message while he strokes his brown, with some strands of grey, moustache, with a smirk on his lips…

Meanwhile, on the top of a unfinished building crawling with hobos and all sorts of misfits, Shadow felt more at peace. The hobos and even the drug dealers were too busy with their own affairs to even imagine that, the ultimate life form was living near by them.

He enjoyed moments of peace, because there, the ebony male was just another creature until Rouge gently lands behind him, well dressed for a place like that, holding a clothes hanger with a elegant militar uniform on her arm.

"What do you want Rouge?..." Shadow let go a sigh, rising from his seat of the roof.

"To apologize..." She replies nervously with a fake smile.

"And?..." the ebony looks at her with an arched eyebrow.

"We were invited to a party reunion with Sonic and his crew and..."

"Say no more. I'm not going." he turns his back on her and sits again.

"Come on Shady… Its gonna be good for both of us… Work has been stressfull as hell and we could have more fun..." Rouge hugs him from behind, making him instantly tense with a deja vú from vision he had.

He simply grabs her arms and gently breaks the hug. Rouge lets go a grunt of frustration and harsly places on his lap the clothes.

"HERE Mr. Unsmiley, brought it for you to have some fucking fun tonight. If you wanna have fun being anti-social, hey be my guest!"

Before Shadow could reply, Rouge was flying in the direction of the Mystic Florest, where Tails has its workshop and reunites the crew once in a while. The ebony male looked to the suit, she even cared enough to put some parfum on the neatly ironed suit, and his soft spot won the battle on his mind.

"Damn Rouge..." he mutters annoyed with himself, rising from the edge of the roof with a new suit on his hands.


	7. Emotions and Illusions

_Autor's note: Thank you Amefloza13 for the review. _

_This chapter is a long one, yet one of the most emotional ones. Enjoy :)_

**Chapter VI: Emotions and Illusions**

Near the Tails workshop, Amy arrived early to do the preparations for the meeting. Cream arrived shortly after, helping the pink female, by placing the plates up on a large rectangle table placed by Knuckles that was now taking care of the seats. Everyone seemed to have a smile on the face, eager to reunite with the same old friends. Tails was fixing the white chain of lights, that was holding up to a big tent structure.

Sonic was late like always and from the Chaotix, only Espio accepted the invitation, while Charmy and Vector were working until late. Rouge already confirmed she was coming and no one knew about Shadow.

Amy made a fast meal thinking about Sonic, thinking about touching his hand while serving the food on his plate, thinking about if he missed her after all those months. The rose female also put her best outfit to impress him.

A vintage sleevless red dress, with white small dots all over it, and a black silk band around her waist enhanced the hourglass figure. She even let her hair grow after all those months and somehow the tips of the front quils fit her face like a barroque frame. Her tipical red headband was now replaced by a silky black one with a rose on the left side, that matched the band around her petite waist. Amy looked like a retro pinup from the 60's, almost Marylin Monroe style.

Tails finally finished setting the white chain of lights and turned on the generator. Suddently it was like they entered a fairy realm or something. The small white lights gently shimmered with the lack of consistency of the energy provided by the generator. Cream placed jars in the middle of the table filled with fireflies, whose green neon lights turn on and off softly.

Now the only thing missing was the drinks, that where inside some cardboard boxes behind the workshop.

Amy took one jar filled with fireflies to light up her path and walked into the dark.

As she walks away from heart of the party and the amusing chat gave place to the crickets symphony, while the full moon reveals a familiar silhouette that made her smile grow bigger.

The rose hedgehog starts to run, ignoring the protruding roots of the trees, tripping in one of them and it was like the time slowed down. The poorly closed jar, spilled the fireflies in the air of the night, and her upperbody fell against Shadow's upperbody, who swiflty hold her with a warm touch of his hands on her naked arms. Her time perception seemed to return to normal, when she noticed the unsmiley muzzle awkwardly close to hers and dared to look up to see curious ruby irises with a small tink of yellow.

Shadow looked down, at first somewhere between the annoyed-neutral facial expression, only to feel strange when his sight match her face, analyzing Amy's features.

"I'm soooo sorry Shadow!" she quickly takes some steps back and fix her dress, avoiding eye contact, ashamed.

Shadow didin't replied, he was somehow stunned, the fireflies were now flying around her, giving her an eerie aura. It was like they time traveled at least 50 years back, to see Amy dress with similar fashion like the time when Maria was alive.

At first, it made him feel very nostalgic, the ebony male could totally see Maria dressed like that, but as he snaped out of the brief day dream, sadness filled his heart again.

"Hey I said I'm sorry! You didin't need to ignore me..." Amy took his silence like he was offended somehow, and she quickly turned her back to him, to walk towards the others, when Shadow grabbed Amy's arm for a few moments.

"No need to apologize, is there anything left to do?"

Shadow tried to be more social, he owned that to Rouge at least. The pink female face brightens with his offer, giving him a smile that left him unseasy.

"There are some boxes with the beverages for the folks. Follow me, I've got quite a suply for the night!"

Amy turns her back again towars the back of the workshop, walking with her hands behind her back.

On the top of a tree, Rouge arrived minutes before, trying to gain some courage first, before she enter the party to see Knuckles.

But she stay still when she caughts Amy falling towards Shadow, watching with morbid curiosity the interaction between the rose female and the ebony male ever since.

She knew Shadow so well, that the ivory bat could read his body language perfectly. Shadow was so nervous around Amy that made the bat giggle. His movements were rigid and controlled, like he was trying not to make a fool of himself in front of pink female.

Even when he grabbed one heavy box with the bottles with ease, his movements were so rigid, they were almost robotic. Rouge had something on her head, because a mischievous smile grew at every second she observed them before she finally gains courage and flies.

Amy walked towards the party first, with few drinks on her hands.

"You took so long for only 4 drinks?..." Tails asked a bit annoyed, because Espio just arrived and it was about time to eat and drink something, when moments after, Shadow cames out of the darkness with a heavy box filled wih the rest.

"Oh… Hi Shadow!" Tails waves his hand nervously to the ebony male, that looked more menacing with the formal military suit.

Shadow places gently the drinks at the top of the table and them, he reaches Tails with a handshake. His dark hand stood still for some seconds while the fox hesitated, only to be pushed to the side by Sonic who suddently arrived.

"Woah Shadow! You look great when you shower! That suit really suits you!"

The blue blur shakes his hand with a iron grip, shaking it vigorously before Shadow pushes his hand back.

"You could use some shower them. You look like an hippie."

Shadow looks at him up and down with despise on his face, noticing some necklasses with religious symbols.

"Thank you the compliment!" Sonic dismissed the provocation" I was just lazy to put the souvenirs from my travels on bags so I carried them around my neck. Want one?"

Suddently, Amy hugs Sonic from behind, interrupting the small chat between the two rivals.

"Ive missed you so much..." Amy says with a smile while bear crush hugs the blue blur.

"Woah Ames, it was only six months! Here, have a necklass." he pushes her away slightly annoyed, trying to keep a smile, giving her a random necklass. One of the Shadow's eyebrows rised with the azure hero behaviour when he was around Amy.

"Oh, is it for me? Would be better if it was an engagement ring" she giggles "but I will cherish it with all my heart."

Sonic rolls eyes with the engagement ring talk, while Shadow just observed with arms crossed their dynamics.

"Well Ames gonna say hi to the rest of the folks. Try not to confuse Shadow with me ok?" and he dashes towards Espio that was grabbing a drink.

Shadow became pissed off, it ofended him more than ofended Amy. She just gave a weak smile and sit at the bench, with watery eyes. Somehow, the ebony male gained courage and sat next to her, in silence.

However, moments later, Rouge walks in, with a stunning purple long dress. For moments she stole the party attention as she was the last, but not the least, to enter the meeting. Knuckles ears her name on Cream's mouth, but do his best efforts to ignore her. He excuses himself to go grab the food platers inside Tails workshop, when Rouge swiflty crosses his path.

"Hi there handsome. How are you?" Rouge did her best to be pleasant but Knuckles grunted and keeps walking.

"You don't need to be shy around me…" the ivory bat grabs him gently by the arm and walks by his side. He becames nervous with her silky touch but continued to walk.

"The food is getting cold. Do you mind if I grab it for the party?! We'll talk later." he hissed before entering Tails workshop, but the bat was persistent and walked at his side, still holding his arm.

Rouge finally lets go his arm, watching from behind, the powerfull echidna grabing four platers, two in each arm, and closes the door.

"I missed you." she said with a soft voice, with her back and wills against the door.

Knuckles let go a big sigh and places the food on the counter. He stood for few moments with his fists against the top of the furniture trying to calm down, when Rouge hugs him from behind.

"I gave you a chance, but you..."

"I know… I'm a piece of shit… You trusted me… But I realized…"

Knuckles turns around and looks at her pissed off. Rouge looks to the side and hugs herself with a sad expression:

"I like you more than I tough I would ever like someone. And… you deserve better than someone like me."

The red echidna looks up letting go another sigh and them looks at her with a softer expression:

"I like you too bat girl, that's why I am so offended for what you did. But hey, old habbits die hard and we are from different worlds. It would never..."

Rouge takes a step foward and places a kiss on his lips, and gently grabbed his head with her hands. At first Knuckles had his eyes wide open, taken by the surprise, but then, his body close to hers, reminded him from the sleepless nights they spend together, from the small pieces of heaven they shared at each others arms behind the Master Esmerald soft glow…

However, outside, the folk were wondering why it was taking so long for the food to come. Cream takes the iniciative to find out why, but when she opens the door, she caughts Knuckles and Rouge against a wall making out and she imediatly closed the door with a bang, flushed.

The bang was enough to make them stop and recompose, ashamed. Outside, as soon they knew the news, Sonic and Tails starts to mock them loudly, while Espio was holding a laugh or two. Amy just lets go some sighs, kinda envious, and as soon they come out, she and Cream went to get the food, otherwise they would starve.

Sonic sat at the head of the table after he placed in each seat (exept Amy's) a souvenir he brough from his journeys. Tails sat at his right, with Cream next to him, and Knuckles at his left, with Rouge "glued" to his right arm. Amy sat right next Cream and Espio next to Rouge. Shadow took the oposite place to Sonic, at the end of the table.

"So guys there has been a while! Next time we should invite Eggman!"

Sonic says before he takes a chillydog to himself before Amy could handle him one.

She was serving everyone with tryhard smile on her face, that fooled everyone except the black hedgehog.

"Only if you wanna have other kind of party Sonic! Thank heavens from the peacefull times we have now, I had plenty of time to work on my projects!" Tails replies after taking a bite on the food.

"Yeah, and even gave you the time to get a girlfriend!" Sonic replies and everyone laughs, execpt Shadow who kept eating in silence.

Cream blushed hard and Tails too, but Knuckles decided to intervene to annoy Sonic:

"I'm sure you got plenty of girlfriend's too on the journeys you made… Tails told me about your adventures."

Now was Sonic time to be embarrased, Rouge was laughing allong with Knuckles, Espio like always wide his smile behind his hand amused, Tails and Cream were enjoying the moment too, Shadow was bored and Amy was the only one with no expression. After the echidna spoke, she felt a cold on her stomach and her troat tensed, while trying to keep as neutral as possible. Sonic gave some excuses and try to talk about other things, like the cultures and religions he meet, completly ignoring Amy's unusual lack of interaction. Yet again, the ebony male noticed, but remained calm, try to understand why she allowed him to treat her feelings so poorly.

Amy was having a battle on her mind, trying not to make a scene, after so many months, after so many efforts, she had to prove herself she was stronger, plus, she had other issue to take care off, the sleepless nights dreaming of her, in the skin of Maria and other dead girl.

"So Shadow, how is it going at G.U.N.? Ive heard you were condecorated recently."

Amy said with a dry voice, trying to stay as neutral as she could.

Shadow was taken by surprise, drinking a sip of the sidra before he replies soflty:

"Its going ok I guess. Could be better, could be worse. But I loose my pacience when bossed around by that arrant knave, the Commander."

The attentions now turned to Shadow, that made him have a small social anxiety attack that he manages to hide, while Sonic's expression changed when he sees Amy giving more attention to his rival.

"Come on Shadowy, you could say at least we make a great team together! All you do is complain about the old man!" Rouge mocks him, sounded offended.

"At least I didin't complained about you, Bat Girl." he gave a evil smile to her, showing his fangs.

Everyone laughed at his statment, Rouge laughed too but soon after she trows napkin turned into a ball at his head. Shadow dodged at ease and felt more relaxed. Slowly he was enjoying the social interactions. Just because he is introverted, that didin't meant he doesn't need to be social once in a while, in very small and controlled doses.

Sonic demanded attention by humilliating him, when he asks with a relaxed voice, showing a stern look:

"So Shads, I bet you gain good money now… But Ive heard you live in the slums of the city. Is it true?"

"Yes. Its good to discourage any attention I would receive from the so called fans."

Shadow looks back sternly, faking a smile, but everyone could see the tension rising around those two rising.

"Well, who wants desert? I made puddin today!" Amy asks loudly, getting up and taking her plate.

Shadow and Sonic were still looking to each other, controlling the urge to insult and fight, with their feets hitting the ground, nervously under the table.

Everyone replied positive to the desert, and Shadow just before Cream did, offered himself to help Amy to pick up the plates and take them inside Tails workshop. He did that, just to somehow annoy the blue blur. Knuckles was talking to Sonic, but he couldn't keep his eyes out of Shadow and Amy, controlling his temper with closed fists up on the table.

Tails noticed that too and made a remark with a smile:

"Are you jelly Sonic?"

"Jelly?" Sonic stopped staring at them, trying to understand what the kitsune just said.

"Babe, its a term the folks use for jealous..." Rouge intervenes right before Tails, with a smirk.

"You guys are drunk already, too much sidra does bad things to your heads. Just I'm not sure if it was a good idea to invite Shadow to the party. He's dangerous." Sonic says between sips from the cup filled with a mix of sidra and beer.

However, Shadow followed Amy and offered to take the major weight from the plates, but she refused, taking half of them. As they entered Tails workshop, Shadow asks bluntly:

"Why do you allow him to treat you like that?"

Amy was caught by surprise, she never tought Shadow even cared enough to ask such things. Besides, they weren't even friends…

"Its not your business! Besides, you don't even know what is to be in love."

Amy replied coldly, hurt, placing hard the dishes against the counter, almost breaking some of them.

The ebony male smiled, he touched a weak spot, yet he proceeds:

"With your defensive response, I assume you do have the notion of what you are doing to yourself.

Besides, you don't know me enough to know if Ive ever been in love or not. Do not assume things you're unfamiliar with."

The pink female opened the cupboard trying to be as neutral as possible, but when Shadow gets next to her to get the spoons on the drawer, her voice was a mix of sadness and anger:

"Do you take pleasure in exploiting others persons weaknesses?!"

"No, only if they are my enemies."

"So… I'm your enemie now?!" Amy looses it, and summons her hammer, before tries to hit him.

Shadow grabbed her hammer and tossed it with no effort to the other corner of the workshop, staring serious into her eyes:

"You're not my friend, but you're not my enemie either. Why should you be my enemie, if you me remind of a solemn promisse I did many years ago?"

Amy watery eyes are becoming more and more evident and she looks back to the counter, grabbing the puddin with one hand, and with the other taking the clean desert plates. Shadow just shrugs as he once again grabs the spoons and starts to walk, right behind her. As soon Amy's opens the half open door with the shoulder, her face change like a mask. A smile and a gentle, but fake expression replaces the sadness. But nothing could hide her puffy watery eyes…


	8. The Aftermath

Chapter VII: The Aftermath

The party went all night long, with good memories assured. Knuckles and Rouge become more than friends once again, Tails and Cream were finally oficial, Espio had a good time and left earlier due to work, Shadow was now more relaxed around people, making some funny remarks about Rouge's behaviour on the work, and Amy faked a smile every second and kept trying to make Sonic to notice her, only to be ignored.

"Well guys it was a great party! But gotta go now! Tomorrow morning gonna visit princess Sally, if you know what I mean!" Sonic was slightly drunk, wink at Knuckles and Tails.

Even thou Shadow was a little more confortable with everybody, he was still somehow aware of the dynamics of the friendships around there.

Always at the corner of his eye sight, everytime Sonic ignored Amy's affections and feelings, talking about his adventure's with the opposite sex, Shadow noticed Amy body language betraing her.

The shaking pink hand quickly swipps a rebellious tear, before she hides it with the other hand behind her back, faking a smile.

"Well, me and the bat girl are going to have a little… conversation. See you guys soon." Knuckles was talking fast and nervously waves his free hand to everyone, while the other was being hold by the ivory female.

Rouge however aproaches Shadow and wispers on his ear:

"Do NOT let Amy alone tonight! The blue cunt gonna leave soon and its dangerous for the girl to walk alone to town this late."

Shadow frowned and replied wispering back:

"I'm not her babysitter Rouge… Plus she haves Cream and..."

Tails and Cream aproaches everybody with hugs and handshakes before leaving.

"You were saying…? Come on Shadowy, see this like a opportunity to annoy Sonic's ego."

Rouge wispers, before a jealous echidna gently pulls her to leave, waving everyone goodbye. While he was pulling her, Rouge mimics indications, pointing to Amy, only to see Shadow letting go some sighs.

Sonic was about to leave, when he sees Shadow with serious and slightly annoyed, reaching his arm to the pink female:

"Come on, I don't have all night." he hissed, rolling eyes.

Amy was caught by surprise and it felt kinda awakward while Sonic was there too.

"I thought Sonic would offer first…" she hesitated before touching his arm "but lets go. Thank you for the offer Shadow."

"I loled now. You didin't even asked me to take you home Ames." Sonic walks towards them, with passive-agressive tone.

"You barely talked to me all party, why should I botter you now Sonic?" she looks down with a shaking voice "Anyway you should visit Sally, I'll be fine. Bye..." and she hooks her right arm on the ebony's left arm, shaking.

Shadow could feel the anxiety through her trembling arm. But Sonic wasn't happy either:

"I was about to take you home… But for gawd sake Amy, you should be ashamed to use Shads to try to make me jealous. Its pitifull really." and the blue blur turns his back to them, before he starts to walk away.

"I guess she really did made you jealous… You didin't even said goodbye, Faker."

Shadow hissed waving and pulling Amy to the opposite direction. Sonic looked at him over his shoulder with a death stare and flips the bird, leaving for good.

The pink female lost the control the moment he left, as her shimmery body made her fall on her knees, while the blurred vision made Amy letting go the ebony hedgehog arm, to hold the huge flow of warm tears with her both hands. Shadow looks at her without know what to do, cursing Rouge on his thoughts.

"You shouldn't spill tears for those who do not deserve. Come on, lets go."

Shadow wasn't very good conforting others, so he tried to be as assertive as he could be. Amy looks up at him, her makeup was a blurred mess, her quills were wild and her eyes were puffy red, shinning with tears. But somehow the ebony hedgehog couldn't take his eyes away from her face, feeling a pressure on the throat, feeling a urge to hug her like he would, if she was Maria.

Amy looks away and takes a deep breath. She was tired and didin't want Shadow's pity. It was bad enough for Sonic to ignore her. So, she rises from the ground, shaking her knees and dress from the dirt, wipes off her tears and composes the best she can, her messed up hair.

"Okay… mister Shadow, I'm ready to go. And again, thank you… for not leaving me all alone." Amy said while she grabs his arm and gently squezes it, before instinctively leans her head on his shoulder, leaving him oddly stiff.


	9. In the shadows

Chapter IX: In the shadows

Sonic was quite pissed off. He just ran for miles and miles into Station Square, anger was his fuel. The azure hero reached an abandoned car and with his speed, makes the vehicle roll over countless times, until it crashes a solid brick wall. Luckily for him, happened in an abandoned industrial zone.

But the crash was loud enough to wake up some hobos and other typical residents.

However, Sonic could care less. His mind was filled with homicidal thoughts everytime Shadow pops up. The bright full moon became shrouded by the heavy clouds, that suddently released their tears upon the city. The hedgehog had his fists closed as the cold rain slides through him.

His mind was trying to deny what his heart already knew. He takes some deep breaths, trying to keep his emotions controlled and wipes a fuzzy warm feeling that was growing on his eyes, when something in the shadows catch his attention.

The rain suddently stops, and the night grew quiet, with the light from the moon apearing once in a while. Sonic looks around, in a defensive position, feeling everytime he turns around to check his surroundings, a soft, cold wind, touched his back. He felt observed but he couldn't detect the position of the threat.

"Come on, show yourself!" Sonic shouts pissed off, he kinda wanted to fight.

The silence was almost overwelming, but the wind carried wispers and small laughs. For that moment, Sonic knew it wasn't Eggman, but something else, as he sees one of his luck charms being shattered as he walks near by a refletion on a broken window.

"Coward! Who the hell are you?!" Sonic shouts again, only to shortly see a deep black silhouette on the corner of his eye. On his gut, he knew, it wasn't a normal foe, because he was strugling to turn around and face it.

When he finally turns around, a agonized scream, scratched with snapping bones comes from a dark alley. Sonic hold himself together and walked into the dark alley. As he walks, the floor gets stickier and stickier, and as he aproaches the faint fire light that came from a old barrel, he realized he was walking though a large puddle of guts and blood, splattered through the valley brick walls. He takes some steps back trembling with shock when he feels something cold on his back again. Before he could react, he feels being pulled and someone whisped on his ear:

"lleh ma I."

* * *

**Autor's note**: can you figure out what the last sentence means? The text gives you some clues about how to translate it ;)


	10. Recursive Memories

_**Autor's note: Temporal Epilepsy is a real desease. I know someone close to me that was diagnosed with this. The brain tricks you to have almost metaphysical experiences like deja vús and a sense of purpose… Although they have not discovered all the possible causes for this to happen, its**_**_ treatable_**_**…**_

_**Anyway, have a nice reading and review ;)**_

Chapter X: Recursive Memories

"How was ARK in the old days?" the pink female asks to Shadow, while they left the train.

The doors shut tight behind then and the flickers of the yellow light from inside of the carriage starts to fade as fast as the train gains speed and leaves the station.

Shadow and Amy talked about the past, about the good and bad times...

The ebony male was at first relutant, but, when the pink female exposed her past too, even before she met Sonic and was honest about it, somehow made him more confortable to share is own memories with her.

"It was peacefull… Unbelievably quiet. The only thing you could hear was the constant humming from the machines working… but eventually it becomes background noise." -Shadow chuckled and looked upon the the moon fused with ARK - "Its funny thou… The scientists had sound records from the nature of this planet… I remember to watch Dr. Gerald falling asleep at his desk, while the sound of rain was being reproduced..."

The pink female looks down, her quills fell a bit towards her face, hiding her muzzle.

"Maybe it was a way for them to remember what it felt like to live down here… Honestly, from the last time I was up there… I felt such solitude, such reclusion. I could look down and see home, yet, it felt somehow confined, almost like a prison." Amy looked up as well, a chilly wisp of wind made her shiver and the pink female hugged herself to keep warm.

Shadow looked at her and remembered Maria saying in a metaforic way, she felt like a bird inside a cage. It felt strange.

Maria always sensed that ARK was her salvation and her prison. With her weak immune system, she couldn't dare to be on the planet, because a simple cold could kill her.

Her desease, NIDS, were only more or less controlled, because of the efforts of Dr. Gerald and her reclusion on ARK.

The space colony had a sterile environment, and the higiene protocols were so strick, it was hard for bacteries and other patogenic agents develop enough to become a threat.

"Are you okay Shadow?" Amy looked to him after some seconds of silence. It was like he was lost in thoughts.

"Nevermind… Its getting late. Lets get you home asap." he says in a monotone voice, with his eyesight lost somewhere in the horizon of the city in front of them.

Amy was walking by his side, when suddently he picks her bridal style.

She was caught by suprise and almost fell from his arms, but he easly controled her twitches as he pulls her closer to him. Amy had her forearms against his chest, feeling something between helpless and protected.

Unconsciously, it was like she was creating a barrier between her personal space and him, only to the limit to be broken, when he gently places her left arm around his shoulders, pulling her close and wispers in a taciturn manner:

"Hold yourself tight or else you will fall."

His voice, made some strands of Amy's quills to move gently, touching her neck, making the female shiver. She was so embarrased for being so close to him that her body temperature rose a bit, making her cheeks turn red.

However, he wasn't indifferent to the proximity between them too.

His enanced senses were making him feel uncomfortable while being inebriated by the scent of her skin.

She had a sweet and floral smell mixed with some pheromones Amy was emitting from being nervous.

His sense of smell was so strong, that from meters away he could even know, when Rouge had her period… Wich annoyed and grossed him out, making him even more anti-social than he usually is at those awkward moments.

However Amy scent wasn't making him more misantropic, but the exact reverse.

He found himself thinking about what her skin tasted like and when he realized his devious thoughts, he bluntly lets her fall into the ground.

"Lets exercise the legs. You need to burn some calories from the dinner."

Amy got up pissed off and offended, with a sore posterior.

"What's wrong with you?! In a second you grab me without my consent and in the next you let me fall like this! Is this a prank?!"

"I'm not like Faker, Rose. If you want me to escort safely to your place, you have to use your feet."

Shadow hissed bluntly, with his crossed arms, trying to control more devious thoughts by being unfriendly.

Amy grunts annoyed and confused by the sudden change of personality. While in the train, Shadow was pacient, assertive, calm and kinda… kind.

Now, he turned into a cold hearted bi-polar bastard.

"Enough! I can walk alone. Bye!"

As she turns her back to him, hissing under her breath, kinda disapointed with his behaviour. Shadow suddently panicked, all he wanted was to somehow challenge her, to keep the distance between then, but he somehow felt that he needed to make amends.

It was strange, when she turned her back to him, he felt a uncomfortable cold on his heart and he reached her hand with his own.

When the pink female feels his hand touching hers, the time froze. It triggered a memory, she was walking in a corridor illuminated by the planet bellow, when Shadow pulls her hand.

She felt like a small electric shock making her blink few times and triggers another memory inside that memory.

Suddently she was at the top of a cliff close to the sea, almost falling, when a long haired warrior grabs her porcelain hand and she yells to him in a strange language.

Amy was having sudden, huges migraines and her hands were shaking without her be able to control. Shadow aproached and grabbed her on the shoulders but her eyes weren't even looking while she talked in some strange language and her body was shaking like bamboo in a windy day.

"Amy? AMY!" Shadow tries to wake her up from her transe like state, but Amy was trapped inside some sort of deja-vú loop. One deja-vú triggered another deja-vú and it was recursive.

It was like she was stucked in a loop of memories triggered by his hand reaching and touching hers in a specific way.

The experience was being so intense, that she starts to cry, to sweat, to gasp for air leaving Shadow with only one option. To knock her out.

With a swift move and controlled strength, Shadow with only two fingers taps the side of her neck, hitting the external carotid artery. The oxigen flow to the brain was stopped by a short period of time, making her faint.

But when pink female passes out, this time, Shadow holds her gently on his arms worried.

"This isn't normal…" the ebony male was once again picking her up, bridal style, remembering when Maria had major health crisis because of NIDS. With her physical suffering, Shadow suffered too, all he could do was grab her hand.

The ebony hedgehog noticed the urge to protect Amy while looking to her now, peacefull face.

It was a fuzzy and warm feeling that somewhat he repressed after the few encounters he had with the rose hedgehog. And it was quite a mistery to him why he only felt like that everytime he was near her.

But now wasn't the time to reflect about the matters of the heart. He felt a small drop of cold water slidding down his face and the clouds shrouded the moon.

Before another tear from the sky could hit him or her, they desapeared into a ball of chaos light.

The scenario changed from a quiet train station into a rushed and busy hospital. Shadow chaos controled to the front of a emergency service, leaving some of the people staring at them, including some of the doctors, that only stop when they recognised who he was.

Usually Shadow's looks and body language instinctively demanded respect from others, but now with a formal and condecorated militar outfit made some people to stay away from his path as he goes through and pushes with his right shoulder, the glass door.

He could care less if there was an arrival order as he walks foward to the reception desk, ignoring almost 30 creatures on the line.

"Mister, I have to ask you to respect others and..."

"What do they have? A fucking cold? For all you know, this girl can be dying right now, and all you care is about the rules?!"

The brown female rabbit just sighs and tries to ignore the complaints of the people behind the ebony male as she asks about the symptoms. Shadow's tone was more assertive as he explains with detail all that happened, leaving the receptionist chocked to know he knock Amy out.

A red paper bracelet was placed on Amy's right wrist as they placed in the hammock and took her away from him to make some exams.

Shadow sat in a corner of the busy emergency wating room. He looked around and as time passed by, he saw people hugging their beloved ones as soon they left corridor… Others to fall on their knees as the doctor talked while looking to the ground… And in the midle of everything, there was children, playing around the chairs, completly oblivious about the life and death surrounding them.

And like the children, Shadow was lost in thoughts, as the hours goes by, he was worried and… nostalgic.

While remembering about the conversations he had with Amy, Shadow remembered about fond memories from ARK, when a male squirel with a medical gown blocks the lamp light.

"Mr. Shadow? Can I talk to you?"

Shadow shakes himself up, almost waking up from a day dreaming state and rises from the seat.

"I'm listening."

"Hi, I'm Charles, a neurologist who did some medical exams to Miss Rose.

But before I proceed… Are you two close?"

"Please Doctor, go straight to the point." Shadow hissed, trying to be as polite as he could be.

"Ok, didin't meant to offend you Sir." he paused and took a deep sigh "From the preliminary examinations, we detected some congenit malformations on her left temporal lobe, wich can trigger some of seizures like you saw today. My bet is that she has Temporal Epilepsy, because we had acess to some of previous medic examinations and crossed the info.

Its treatable with proper medication, but she can have a wide range of crisis, since they can go from allucinations to the agressive deja-vús inside deja-vús.

But sometimes the congenit malformations aint enough to trigger such violent crisis."

Shadow was quiet for some few moments while he was carefully assimilating all the information.

"Can I see her now?"

The squirel smiled and simply said:

"Follow me."

The taciturn hedgehog walked behind the medic through the large corridor. Rushed nurses were running room to room to check if every pacient needed something. It was quite late, and Shadow could see the tiredness on their expressions.

"You have 15 minutes, then I have to ask you to leave, because she's exausted."

The medic talked before opening the door and allowing the ebony male to enter.

Amy was sitting in the bed with her back leaning against the headboard staring at the moon. Her expression was a mixture between sadness and lack of sleep. Her face had dried tears and the esmerald eyes were a bit puffy red. She was wearing a pure white hospital sleep gown and her left hand had a catheter were the serum was being gently pumped to the body.

Shadow shivered to the sight… It was way too familiar and his first instinct was to sit next to her and reach her right hand.

His concern was fully rejected when she keeps the hand, once resting in the bed, was now in a defensive gesture, against her chest.

"Rose…" he spoke gently, trying to aproach again, when her feet shake like she was struggling, Amy moves away abruptly, shaking the head of the bed to the sides.

"You once said you weren't like Sonic… But let me warn you, I'm NOT Maria."

The pink female voice was agressive, her hands clenched, squeezing the bed sheets between her fingers. She was afraid of his touch. The seizure were so strong, she though her brain was going to explode.

The ebony male kept the hand to himself and his expression went from soft to serious.

"Don't you DARE to compare yourself to Maria…" Shadow rose from the bed and looked into her eyes:

"Where is your hero now?"

He aproached more with his fists closed.

"Where was he while you were having a seizure?!"

He abruptly hits the table next to the bed, shaking it, aproaching more.

"Oh yeah, he was fucking Sally Acorn!"

He cornered the pink female with his two hands against the headboard, shouting in her face, making some patients to awake to call the nurses and security.

Amy looked silently, straight into his eyes, controlling herself not to burst in tears.

But Shadow, now closer, could sense her racing heart, the salt in her tears, the inconsistent breathing and again the intoxicating sweet scent, that somehow was stronger now.

The ebony male felt a burden once he thought about he just said and his expression changes again while staring at her.

But Amy was hurted from his words and looked down trying to control the huge stream of hot tears accumulating... When she sees his dark hand grabbing her chin and with his tumb, he gently wipes the tear that betrayed her facade.

The pink hedgehog opens her mouth, suprised and paralised as the time slows down again and she sees his eyelids close while aproaching her.

She could smell his musky scent and feel his hot breath almost on her lips, when he suddently went back again, wide opening his eyes while being pushed from behind by a tall white bear, one of the security guards that quickly aproached the room.

"Up! You are pushing your luck Mr. Shadow!"

The security guard exclaimed while preparing to hand cuf him. The killer instinct was sparking on the crimson eyes, when Amy exclaimed:

"He meant no harm!"

The guards stared at her, and the bear pushes Shadow away from the bed, grabbing her arms to check some bruises.

"It was only a small dispute… He wanted me safe and there I went to the roller coaster after taking the meds." Amy said under examinations, now from a nurse too.

The security guards at first thought it was another case of domestic violence, but she had no marks what so ever. Shadow was surprised by the female's gesture and gave a small chuckle.

"No need to escort me creature." and before a blinding light stuns the guards, he smiled to Amy and then desapears into thin air.

The security guards were about to leave and the nurse as well, but the white bear prevented the nurse from turning the light off:

"Next time, he won't be so luck Miss Rose." and the light went off.

Amy gives a fake smile, thinking to her buttons that the Ultimate Life Form almost kissed her and, shortly after, just got another enemy...


	11. Seek and Hide

_Seek and Hide_

**Author disclaimer: My life changed so much in so little time.  
Gonna try to update more. Please leave a review. **

**The characters in this story bellong to SEGA (c). **

Its dark, the air is almost unbrethable with a scent of old mold. The azure hero wakes up in a cold water pond, coughing and with a huge migraine. His vision was blurry, almost everywhere he looked was foggy and dark, with some few rays of light here and there.

He got up and looked around, over his head, he could see people from the bottom up, like they were walking over a irregular glass that blurred with each step. He tries to touch the feet of those above him, only to find it was like being under a wet tick layer of glass with drops of blood…

The blue hero looks around again, seing the darkness being iluminated with those "openings" to the upper world. When he aproached the edge that separated the light and darkness, he could hear wispers carried in a soft wind, it was like a abyss separated each of those ponds.

"Gotta get out of here..." he thought to himself. Sonic looks up and starts to attack the "glass" over him.

Meanwhile above, the sun was rising behind the raining clouds. The street was filled with cops and investigatores checking the remais of the poor homeless spilled on the walls and ground.

And no one, not a single one, noticed the blue hero under them, screaming for their attention, hitting over and over the barrier that separated that strange place from the "normal world".

Frustated and anxious, looks around again, to see the holes of light changing with the rain from above. And some flashes of moving lights apearing and desapearing, moving in one direction. Sonic stepped back and jumps to the next "pond", almost failing it, shaking his arms to gain balance.

His heart was pounding like mad. His guts somehow knew, he couldn't afford to fall if he wanna made it out from there, alive. He noticed other brighter paths, with diferent heights, only to be surprised with a moving "opening" from the surface, stopping in front of him. When he looks up, he saw the police car stopping over almost half of the pound he was. Now he could see through the glass window refletion what was happening above, but no one noticed him.

With the daylight he saw how gruesome the setting was… The alley walls and floor were painted with guts and bones, mixed with old rags. The best that inspectors could do to identify the victim was to take from the puddle of blood, some thooths…

And a chill went down the Sonic's spine, as soon he realized, that the same entity that killed the hobo, may be the same that trapped him in that some sort of limbo…

He tooks some deep breaths to try to concentrate, only to realize the hard way the air wasn't very breathable. He coughs violently, and starts to feel a metalic flavour on his mouth. When his white glove reaches his lips, cleaning it with the back of his hand, he sees blood.

"I really need to get the fuck out of here!" he talks to himself, he gotta move if he wanna get out alive.

In a defensive pose, Sonic looks around for the next oppening. The best shot he has, was to find the equivalent place where his friends lived, and pray for them to notice him.

...

However, in the hospital, Amy Rose was blank staring to the grey skies, still laying on the bed. As the rain slowly falls on the window, she recolets the visions she had during the last seisure mixed with flashes of the moments she spend with Shadow… and his lips so close to hers.

Then, she remembered the sessions with lady Sophie:  
_"...when you were about to die in your two last past lifes, the same male soul suffered with your death. It was like he or they had something to tell you, but they never had the chance..."_

She wanted so much that Sonic were the one… That he would be somehow her soulmate…

She couldn't let the blue blur go…

Amy closed her eyes and turned away from the window, taking her arms to her head, her vision becomes blurry and warm, as the memories of the day she met the blue hero apeared. They were bittersweet thou… The same day, she met what she tought, it was the love of her life, she lost her parents as well.

Eggman's Metal Sonic raided through the small vilage were she used to live, houses were burned to the ground, mobians trapped, and if they fought back, they were simply slayed.

Her parents in an atempt to protect their only child, pushed Amy Rose against her will inside of a closet. The pink hedgehog mother just before she shuts the closet doors, washed in tears, kissed her forehead while the father got a shotgun, trembling with fear, faces the entry door.

Shortly after, they closed the doors and only a strand of light entered the closet. Amy was inside, gasping for air, while the background muffled screaming and armies of robots marching. She could even hear her mother praying under her breath.

The pink child gained courage to peek through the small gap between the closet doors, only to see the door being slammed in a single thrust, hitting the mother against the wall next to the closet, making it tremble with the impact.

Amy falls on her posterior with both hands covering her mouth, to somehow control her urge to scream.

There was several gun shots and the sound of the ricochete on the metal mixed with screams of pain made her taking the hands from her mouth, now only to cover her ears. Amy was hipperventilating, her eyes were shut tight and she was pressing so much the hands against the ears, it was starting to hurt. She just wanted to wake up from that nightmare. Her parents fought the best they could, against an bullet proof robot with a thirst of blood.

Then the quiet came again...

As she slides down on the closet, the stream of hot tears falls from her face and her hands fell to her sides. She felt like a coward, she felt she could at least try to fight for her parents, she at least had to know… if they survived.

As Amy place both hands on the doors, opening them a few milimiters, peeking with her green eyes filled with tears, only to suddently face a pair red and black eyes…

Metal Sonic took her, she was going to be another robotic slave to Eggman life many hundreds became, when, suddently, a blue blur, ironically similar to her kidnapper, apeared…

The rest is history. In the moment she was on the safety of his arms, she promissed to herself she would be with him forever and ever…

Only to find out, half a decade after, the fate was playing tricks on her.


End file.
